It is estimated that over two million individuals are incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails. In general, inmates that have been convicted of felony offenses serve longer sentences in prisons (e.g., federal or state prisons), whereas inmates that have been convicted of misdemeanors receive shorter sentences that are frequently served in local jails (e.g., county jail). In addition, upon being detained by authorities, an inmate may serve significant periods of time incarcerated in a local jail while awaiting release on bond and, in some cases, while awaiting trial. During all of these periods of incarceration, an inmate may have opportunities to communicate with the outside world.
By allowing inmates to communicate with friends and family while incarcerated, the justice system aims to facilitate the inmate's transition back into society upon being released. Traditional visitation sessions provided by controlled-environment facilities include telephone calls and supervised, in-person visits. Providing in-person visits requires the controlled-environment facility to implement procedures by which both the visitor and the inmate are closely screened and monitored in order to prevent the transfer of contraband during the in-person visit. Another type of offered visitation session involves an inmate and a visitor communicating audio via visitation terminals while physically separated by a glass or otherwise transparent barrier that allows the parties to see each other during the visitation. Another type of visitation session that may be supported involves an inmate and a visitor participating in a video visitation session, each using visitation terminals that include audio and video capabilities. Although such video visitations do not technically require the visitor to be present at the controlled-environment facility, various rules and restrictions may require that a visitation session be conducted in a monitored visitation area.
In certain scenarios, the number and type of visitations sessions that are supported by a controlled-environment facility may be limited by the visitation terminals that are available for use by visitors. Certain controlled-environment facilities may face resource limitations that limit the number of visitation terminals that can be supported, thus limiting the number of visitation sessions that may be conducted.